All of us have to eat, no matter how busy we get.  What does your family do to make sure that meals happen each day?  What role do you play in that production?  If you play a lead role in making sure the people in your house get nutrition into their bodies, you will appreciate this entry.

 Is the concept of play something you only think of associated with your past?  Let’s see if we can change that!  Today’s post not only gives you permission to play, but it prescribes it as a positive benefit you need to welcome into your life!

Life feels non-stop busy.  How can we set aside times to have a Sabbath (“to rest or to cease” from the original Hebrew)?  If we stop, aren’t we going to fall behind?  Instead, what blessings can we find in penciling into our planner some scheduled time to do what Simon and Garfunkel recommend: “Slow down, you move too fast/You got to make the morning last” and even more importantly, God says. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” is literally one of the ten Commandments.  If you struggle with this, you are not alone.

Psalm 90:14 requests, “Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.”  There’s so much positivity in that verse - satisfaction, singing, joy, being glad… Perhaps you are like me where that particular part of the day does not always inspire optimism and smiles, perhaps it’s more associated with a croaking voice and eyes struggling to stay open.  No matter which way God created you, He calls us to incorporate Jesus into our daily routines.

When your head hits the pillow at night, do you find a place of peace and escape and rejuvenation, or do you have a different story?  All of us need rest, but some of us are better at making that a part of our rhythm than others!

As much as we’d prefer to avoid these words in evaluating our souls, sometimes in our life there come times when we need to confess, release, and change some things.  When we look at ourselves and what matters most to us, how do we see these words playing out in our decisions?

We live in a busy and noisy world, full of attention grabbers and distractions.  Do we find ways to turn them all off and just breathe in the silence that remains in that space?  For some of us, this is easier than others.  Where do you fall on that spectrum?  

Where do we find our eyes focused in life? When we are genuine and honest with ourselves, we realize that where our eyes turn, our heart almost always follows. And where our heart is, that is where our treasure is. Do we like the answers that we find when we evaluate the treasures in our lives?

It’s time to take inventory; we need to figure out what’s most important to us.  What things tug at and monopolize our time and energy?  As we pull out our values and proverbially spread them on the table in front of us, we need to look at them through these eyes: What’s right?  What’s wrong?  What’s confused?  What’s missing?  

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11: 28-30) 

This is the first of many posts that will be centered around building rhythms that help you create and/or restore connection to our Savior. We begin our series focused on rest because who couldn’t use some of that right now?

Have you heard that Jesus loves you? Chances are, at some point in your life, you’ve either had these words spoken to you, or you’ve come across them in a book or on a sign or tee-shirt…

You’ve probably heard a lot more teaching on the Heart of Christ for you, but equally as important is the Heart and will of our Heavenly Father! He loves us and is as just as active in our lives as God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, and in this post I hope you are able to learn a bit more about Him and His nature.

The work of the Holy Spirit is so often overlooked or not brought up. Through this post, you can learn to understand more about who the Holy Spirit is, and what His work in your life looks like.

Have you ever struggled with feeling unworthy of the love of Jesus? Maybe not just unworthy, but completely not fit for it? Well, Jesus wants you anyway, and here you can find out why.

Christmas is not always the most wonderful time of the year. For some, the season can carry heartache and painful memories of loved ones lost. And that is ok. Let’s try to be sensitive to those around us as we celebrate our Savior’s birth.

You can feel it in the air when you select a gift for someone after thoughtfully searching and choosing, as you wrap it carefully, and then finally present it to that person. A moment of vulnerability sits in as you watch in anticipation. “Will they like it?” Similarly, God opened himself up to feel that same vulnerability in the gift He gave us at the first Christmas.

Do you ever struggle with thankfulness amidst difficult situations? Thankfulness is a choice. The reality is that we won’t always feel like being thankful, but in these moments, we can still choose to give thanks for everything. How? Because we know that God is still in control and He uses all things in this fallen world to accomplish His purposes: one of which is the sanctification of His children! Read on to discover more.

When reflecting on all the goodness in our life, even that brought about somehow in God’s mysterious plan by suffering or loss or heartache, we change our perspective and our thinking from the core of our being.  Perhaps it is more accurate to say that GOD changes our perspective and our thinking.

When Heather asked me to write about gratitude for this month, I immediately responded yes…

Appreciation. We all are in need of a good dose of this from time to time. Do you feel up to a good challenge? If so, we have created a calendar for you to be the difference maker this month.